Piece By Piece
by TranscendReality
Summary: Everything was going fine, until he saw the flea. But what was that strange look in his eyes? Panic? Fear? To sum it up, Izaya has secrets. - Slight Shizaya, takes place during Izaya and Shizuo's high school days at Raira Academy.
1. Chapter 1

_Splash._

What is this feeling?

 _Splash._

Could it be...

 _Splash._

 **Love?**

 _Splash._

Shoes, pounding heavily on the rain-soaked pavement, tearing through the dimly lit street.

 _Splash._

Shady figure, sprinting down the sidewalk, desperation in his eyes.

 _Splash._

Flashing, red lights, heart beating too fast.

 _Splash._

The dreaded white vehicle, the dreaded red lights, the dreaded men, in their dreaded white suits, in front of the dreaded house.

 _Splash._

The dreaded hospital stretcher.

 _Silence._

 _ **Nothing.**_

Rain poured down around the blonde bartender like God's tears, as he could only stare, wide-eyed, at the motionless body of... his enemy? His friend? His love? He didn't know anymore.

How did this happen?

 _Time skip, 6 months previously_

 _*BRIINNNNNGGGGG*_

The loud (and rather obnoxious) bell blared, and students swarmed out of the building to escape the hell that was their school. Plans were made, girls asked out, and dates scheduled as the students flocked across the courtyard and out the school gate.

But all of them kept a rather wide berth away from a certain blonde-haired student who was trudging out of school. From the casual observer's point of view, he was nothing but an ordinary high-school student, except for maybe his dyed hair, but to anyone you could ask from Raira, he was someone to be feared for his enormous strength, the _bakemono_ ***** of the school. Heiwajima Shizuo.

Well, to anyone you could ask except for one.

Sly, cunning, tricky, and deceitful, yet always getting perfect grades without studying, Orihara Izaya was archrival of Shizuo, and to top it off, a world-class jerk.

Rumors were spread about their infamous rivalry, the cause of broken... Well, broken _everything_ on the school campus. Their fights, although so destructive, were commonplace, and all authorities in the building were too afraid to do anything about them out of fear of the two individuals, who, while both terrifying, could be described as nothing less than complete and polar opposites.

One of which fights took place as the two of them just _happened_ to bump into each other while walking out of the school gate.

"Ara, ara, Shizu-chan! What a _coincidence_ to run into you here." Liquid venom coated the to-be-information-broker's words, and a gleam of mischief glowed in his eyes. "Off to see your _girlfriend_?"

Before any bystanders knew it, knife blades and stop signs were flying across the street. But all that was put to an immediate halt when Izaya's phone rang.

Izaya pulled the phone out of his pocket, a curious look on his face, and nodded a couple times, while Shizuo gazed on, irritated at the small rectangle of plastic that was interrupting their fight. (Shizuo would never be so rude as to interrupt a phone call). But when the flea hung up, Shizuo swore he had never seen such a look on the flea's face before. He was (somehow) even paler than before, with eyes filled with — was that... Fear?

Shizuo merely brushed it off as a trick of the light, telling himself, _'Not like the flea would be afraid of anything... Arrogant jerk.'_

"Well, Shizu-chan, as much as I would love to stay here and play with you, I've gotta get going. Business calls, you know?" And before Shizuo could utter a word (such as why the flea had 'business' in high school), he had already bolted down the street.

Shizuo could only stand there and stare at the slowly shrinking figure, wondering what could have bothered him so much, before beginning the long trudge in the (thankfully) opposite direction towards his home, with the only focus on his mind of falling into his warm and ever so cozy bed.

And true to his word, as soon as his head hit the pillow, he was out like a light.

 _Inky darkness surrounded him, and an odd feeling of oppression and fear seemed to press down on his shoulders._

 _A strange scent was in the air, and cold wrapped around him, chilling him to the bone, yet he could see nothing but black and red swirls in his vision._

 _Crimson, mahogany, navy, swirling around his view._

 _Crash._

 _The sound of glass breaking filled his ears, and vague and unclear shouting was heard in the murky blackness._

 _Dread rushed up his spine, and panic filled his mind._

 _ **He had to get out. Out. Out.**_

 _Footsteps?_

 _Blinking rapidly, breath hitching, legs shaking, he couldn't move._

 _The footsteps were getting closer._

 _Closer._

 _Closer._

 _ **Pain.**_

 _White noise filled his ears._

 _ **Pain.**_

 _He couldn't breathe._

 _ **Pain.**_

With a shuddering breath, Shizuo shot straight up in his bed, breaking out in a cold sweat.

He glanced at his alarm clock.

3:07 AM.

The dream hadn't been real. Nothing more than a nightmare.

Or was it?

A lingering feeling of dread filled his heart.

And his gut instinct told him it had to do with Izaya.

 **A/N**

 **Well, that's the first chapter! Hope you guys enjoyed! By the way, I'd just like to apologize, first of all, for the short chapter (and sucky writing), and second of all, for the fact that I probably won't update this fanfiction... For, like, 3 weeks... Or a month… Or two… Heheh…**

 **But seriously, oh my god, I'm pretty sure that Izaya was super OOC in that. O.o I'M SORRY FOR MY SINS .**

 **Translations:**

 ***bakemono - monster**


	2. Chapter 2

_Tick, tock._

Shizuo glared irritatedly at the clock.

 _Tick, tock._

Who told it to move so fucking slowly?!

 _Tick, tock._

His grip on his pencil tightened.

 _Tick, tock._

 _Snap._

The poor pencil was broken into two pieces, and hurled across the room at a breakneck speed, embedding itself into the clock, which proceeded to shatter. In the hallway. Because the pencil halves broke a hole in the wall.

(This was the reason why Shizuo never had enough pencils.)

He hadn't been able to sleep after his dream the previous night. That damn flea was always messing with his life! He must have been responsible for the dream somehow, knowing how the louse always played games with him.

"Anoo… H-Heiwajima-s-san…" His slightly balding English teacher looked at him nervously. "Ple-Please r-refrain from t-throwing your writing u-utensil across the c-classroom."

Shizuo glared at him, and the teacher cowered behind his desk, the five-foot and already short man suddenly appearing to be a Smurf, but with a face that was pale white instead of blue.

The rest of class went by uneventfully, until finally, _finally_ , the school bell blared, signalling the end of classes for the day.

Already pissed off (for no good reason, although he wasn't admitting that to himself), Shizuo grumpily trudged out the school gate, only to see the flea again, walking outside of the school gates with a slight limp.

"Oy. Flea. Stop and let me come beat you up for a moment."

Izaya whirled around, and Shizuo nearly gasped at the sight. He looked haggard and shaken, and pale to the point of his face being just white. Eyes widening in shock, he jerkily stumbled back a couple of steps.

"Sh-Shizu-chan! Tch, damn protozoan, you're the only one who I can't read." The last bit was murmured quietly, almost remorsefully, as Izaya gazed out into the distant sky, and sighed.

"What's wrong with you, louse?" Glaring suspiciously, Shizuo couldn't help but add a tone of suspicion to his words.

The flea glanced backwards at him, and smiled as though he was almost… regretful. "Sorry, Shizu-chan, but I can't stay and chat today. Check back tomorrow!~"

And before Shizuo could notice how he had dodged the question, the louse was off.

But Shizuo couldn't help but notice how exhausted he looked.

So he followed him.

Apparently the flea was just really out of it or something, but for the whole walk, Izaya didn't seem to notice Shizuo tailing behind, or if he did, he didn't say so.

But eventually, they arrived at a tall, white building. Shizuo glanced at the sign to see— _Elementary school?_ _Why would the_ _ **flea**_ _be at an elementary school?_

Just then, two brown-haired girls skipped out the front gates of the school; one with her hair in two long braids down her back, and the other in— was that a sports uniform?

Well, enough about that— Izaya had sisters?!

As soon as they caught sight of Izaya leaning against the school's white-painted brick wall, they immediately ran over to him.

"Iza-nii! Iza-nii!" They excitedly bounced over to him and grabbed on to his arms.

The flea smiled tiredly at them, and the two girls immediately quieted down at the sight of it.

"Iza-nii, are you okay?" The one with the braids looked up at the louse worriedly. What was wrong with the louse?

"Don't worry about me, I'm fine." He replied, taking their hands and beginning to stroll down the street, inquiring them about their day, with Shizuo awkwardly following behind them, trying to remain unseen.

But all of that was for naught, as two blocks down the street, Izaya stopped dead in his tracks, and whirled around, his face frozen in a petrified look of shock and terror, and Shizuo could only stand and sheepishly stare from behind a telephone pole at the louse.

Whoops.

He got caught.

"Mairu, Kururi, go on ahead," The flea turned to his sisters with an almost… gentle… look on his face. What had come to the world?!

His voice now but a murmur, Shizuo had to strain his ears to hear him. "And no matter what you do, don't go inside without me. Wait for me, okay?"

The two girls nodded and bolted off, casting worried glances at Shizuo's perplexed expression, and Izaya finally turned around and met his gaze.

"Ara, ara, Shizu-chan again," There was still the familiar hint of malice in his words, but for some reason, they seemed kind of… strange. "Following me on my way home like this… I never thought you would come to this! Is it possible… that you're a stalker?"

And once more, the flea pissed him off again. With an irritated look on his face, Shizuo reached out with one hand, and uprooted the nearest stop sign.

Now that he looked closely, the flea really looked bad. His face was pale, and there were bags under his crimson eyes, and maybe it was just Shizuo, but the flea's normally overly arrogant and cocky manner of walking was gone, and he seemed overly skinny as well. Was he really okay?

Slightly shakier than normal, at the sight of Shizuo arming himself, the louse reached into his pocked and whipped out his signature pocket knife.

Without hesitation, Shizuo swung the large sign at the flea, who hurriedly flipped over it, returning fire with his throwing blade in one long, smooth motion.

The two of them bolted around the city like this, easing into their normal routine of fighting, and as they went, flipping over six lane traffic (or attempting to dodge UPS trucks, in Shizuo's case), Izaya seemed to relax a little, even letting out a chuckle here and there.

Somehow, they worked themselves around in a full circle, landing right back at the elementary school, both out of breath, and Izaya grinning, while Shizuo grunted in rage.

But their fun was interrupted when the louse glanced at his watch, checking the time.

His eyes widened, and he muttered profanities under his breath before sprinting off down the road, Shizuo simply left there in shock and staring at his back.

Could that have been… fear in his eyes?

Back at home, Shizuo awkwardly clambered into his bed, still thinking about the flea's peculiar behavior these past couple of days.

Something was definitely going on with him, and Shizuo just knew it. Maybe the dream he had had the previous night would give him a clue…

Oh, who was he kidding, solving puzzles made Shizuo's brain hurt.

Deciding to ponder this enigma the next morning, Shizuo closed his eyes, and went to sleep.

 _Dark._

 _Everything was dark._

 _Cold._

 _Everything was cold._

 _The world was just a puddle of colors, of the black, the red, the crimson, swirling around him._

 _A bitter scent filled the air, and the sound of glass breaking echoed in his delusioned hallucination._

 _His ears were assaulted with the sound of shouting, causing his head to pound._

" _Useless… garbage… piece of shit…"_

 _His hands were quivering, his breaths were shallow._

 _The sound of children wailing resounded through his mind, and he glanced toward the sound, eyes filled with panic._

 _Footsteps moved towards him, and an uncontrollable fear, a dread, a terror, filled his soul._

 _ **No.**_

 _Heartbeat quickening, pulse racing, he attempted to scramble backwards from the looming figure before him, but his back hit a cold, hard wall._

 _ **No.**_

 _Breath hitching, knees shaking, terror filled his veins._

 _ **No.**_

 _He desperately glanced around himself, looking for something,_ _ **anything,**_ _that could be used in self-defense._

 _ **No.**_

 _Closing his eyes, and cringing away, he resigned himself to his fate._

 _ **Pain.**_

 _A blundering object crashed into his head._

 _ **Pain.**_

 _His consciousness yearned, grasped, stretched, at the possibility of retaining awareness._

 _ **Pain.**_

 _But it was too much._

 _ **Pain.**_

 _He succumbed to the darkness._

 _ **And then nothing.**_

Gasping, Shizuo shot up out of bed in a cold sweat, still recovering from the shock of what that had just entailed.

The dream had happened again.

What was going on exactly, and what did it have to do with the flea?

 **A/N ...Merry belated Christmas… And a happy New Year. And all that jazz. Aagh, I feel like Izaya is soo OOC here, I'm so sorry. And half the time, I feel like I'm just randomly blundering around on my keyboard, trying to write a half-decent story…**

 **Well anyways, could we get some reviews? Maybe? I hate to be that author, but I don't know what the heck I'm doing right or wrong, soo a little bit of advice would be a huge help! Thanks!**

 **And see you when I actually decide to update this thing…**

 **Edit: Looking back on this, I was** **really** **moody when I wrote this A/N… Sorry about that! Not that anybody reads these anyways… But seriously, reviews are much appreciated! w**


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